Case Study Description of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App
After a successful career as Chairman and CEO of Paris-based luxury food company, Fauchon, Laurent Adamowicz, sought to reduce obesity and improve health outcomes. Adamowicz created a mobile application to provide consumers with more accessible and interpretable knowledge about the food they were eating so they could make better decisions. Despite Adamowicz's focus on promoting healthful and informed eating habits, many choices still lay ahead of him in deciding how to develop a platform and database, the type of business model that would best support his goals, and the types of collaboration and marketing techniques that would get his idea off the ground. Since 2010, Laurent Adamowicz evolved his concept for a mechanism that acted as a "nutritionist in your pocket" into Bon'App, a fully formed nutrition database and nutritional educational platform. After multiple iterations of the app design and revenue model, Bon'App began to see encouraging results with an increased user base and usage. Adamowicz's venture was accepted into a prominent Boston-based accelerator, attracted outside capital, added team members and attracted its first paying corporate client. Despite the progress made Adamowicz knew that his start-up remained in a fragile state. He wondered if he would be able to maintain the flexibility needed to capitalize on new opportunities while staying true to his mission to create a new standard for nutritional information.
Swot Analysis of "Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App" written by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz, Patricia Bissett Higgins includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Adamowicz Bon'app facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Health, IT, Mobile and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Adamowicz Bon'app, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Adamowicz Bon'app operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Adamowicz Bon'app
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Adamowicz Bon'app
Strengths Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Adamowicz Bon'app in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Adamowicz Bon'app is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Adamowicz Bon'app is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Adamowicz Bon'app in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Adamowicz Bon'app is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Adamowicz Bon'app is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Adamowicz Bon'app in the sector have low bargaining power. Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Adamowicz Bon'app to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Adamowicz Bon'app is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Adamowicz Bon'app in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Adamowicz Bon'app has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Analytics focus
– Adamowicz Bon'app is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz, Patricia Bissett Higgins can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Adamowicz Bon'app has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Adamowicz Bon'app has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Adamowicz Bon'app to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Adamowicz Bon'app to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Adamowicz Bon'app is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Weaknesses Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Adamowicz Bon'app is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Adamowicz Bon'app is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Adamowicz Bon'app has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Lack of clear differentiation of Adamowicz Bon'app products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Adamowicz Bon'app needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Adamowicz Bon'app has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Adamowicz Bon'app is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Adamowicz Bon'app needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Adamowicz Bon'app to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App, it seems that the employees of Adamowicz Bon'app don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Adamowicz Bon'app has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Adamowicz Bon'app has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Adamowicz Bon'app even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Adamowicz Bon'app has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Opportunities Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App are -
Buying journey improvements
– Adamowicz Bon'app can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Adamowicz Bon'app in the consumer business. Now Adamowicz Bon'app can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Adamowicz Bon'app can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Adamowicz Bon'app can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Adamowicz Bon'app operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Adamowicz Bon'app has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Adamowicz Bon'app to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App case study. Adamowicz Bon'app can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Adamowicz Bon'app has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Adamowicz Bon'app can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Adamowicz Bon'app can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Adamowicz Bon'app can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Adamowicz Bon'app to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Adamowicz Bon'app to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Adamowicz Bon'app can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Adamowicz Bon'app can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Adamowicz Bon'app to increase its market reach. Adamowicz Bon'app will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Adamowicz Bon'app can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Threats Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App are -
Regulatory challenges
– Adamowicz Bon'app needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Adamowicz Bon'app.
Increasing wage structure of Adamowicz Bon'app
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Adamowicz Bon'app.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Adamowicz Bon'app in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Adamowicz Bon'app with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Adamowicz Bon'app demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Adamowicz Bon'app can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Adamowicz Bon'app in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App, Adamowicz Bon'app may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Adamowicz Bon'app needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Adamowicz Bon'app is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Adamowicz Bon'app business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Adamowicz Bon'app needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.